Hasta La Creative!

Safety is a huge part of the Volvo brand. And now, the automaker, with help from Grey London, is extending the concept beyond its own drivers—to cyclists with whom they share the road—and beyond advertising, into product development.

Client and agency have collaborated with Swedish startup Albedo100 to produce LifePaint, a reflective safety spray designed to increase the visibility and safety of cyclists and others on the road at night. Invisible in the daytime, the spray glows brightly in the glare of headlights at night.

Here’s the launch video for it:

It’s not really paint. The transparent spray washes off and will not affect the color or surface of materials. It can be applied to almost any fabric—clothes, shoes, strollers, children’s backpacks, even dog leads and collars—and last about a week after application.

Beginning today, 2000 cans of LifePaint will be given away at six London and Kent-based bike shops. If successful, the project will expand nationally and perhaps internationally.

“Our job isn’t just to advertise our clients,” said Nils Leonard, chairman and CCO of Grey London. “It’s to help them make a positive impact on culture. With the creation of LifePaint, we’ve turned Volvo safety inside out, giving it away to the most vulnerable road users. What more positive action can a brand take than to try to save lives?”

Grey also used LifePaint to create “invisible” black posters that only reveal their message in the flash of a smartphone.

“This is the sort of work we want to be making,” says Grey London creative director Hollie Newton. “Properly integrated innovation. Design a valuable, remarkable product for a brand, and then launch it with the same level of craft.”

CREDITS
Client: Volvo
Creative Agency: Grey London
Chief Creative Officer: Nils Leonard
Creative Director: Hollie Newton
Creative Team: Jonas Roth, Rasmus Smith Bech
Account Team: Cristyn Bevan, Sophie Critchley, Alex Nixon
Planning: Wiktor Skoog
Head of Film: Glenn Paton
Integrated Producer: Francesca Mair
Assistant Producer: Talia Shear
Designer/ Typographer: Chris Chapman
Creative Producers: Helen Llewelyn, Glen McLeod
LifePaint Collaborators: Albedo100
Production Company: Caviar
Director: Andrew Telling
DOP: Jeremy Valender
Executive Producer: Louise Gagen
Producer: Adam Smith
Editor: Matt Newman at GreyWorks
Colourist: Julien Biard at Finish
Post Production: Gramercy Park Studios
Sound Design: Munzie Thind at Grand Central Studios
Music Composition: Adam Halogen through Wake The Tow
Microsite: Paul Cackett, Piers Cleveland-Copeman and Johan Runge-Goransson @ clear.as

Here’s an easy way to make sure the product is the hero. Make everything else around it really, really tiny—and leave the product at regular size.

It works great in this campaign for Frooti, one of India’s oldest and most beloved mango juice brands.New York agency Sagmeister & Walsh designed a whole new visual language for the brand around this idea of a miniature world—which it then brought to life in a stop-motion commercial with help from Aaron Duffy’s agency SpecialGuest, 1stAveMachine director Marc Reisbig and animation house Stoopid Buddy Stoodios.

See the spot here:

As Duffy says, the colorful spot really is an “absurdly ear- and eye-catching little film.” The spot features a miniature version of Bollywood superstar and longtime Frooti spokesman Shah Rukh Khan, who then appears in person at the end to deliver the pitch.

“The goal was to introduce the new packaging in a fresh, bold, and playful way,” Sagmeister & Walsh says of the rebranding. “We introduced four bold colors to the brand which complement the yellow of Indian mango and add a sense of playfulness across the imagery.”

See a bunch more imagery below.

CREDITS
Client: Frooti

Creative Agency: Sagmeister & Walsh
ECD/Partner: Jessica Walsh
ECD/Partner: Stefan Sagmeister

Creative Agency: SpecialGuest
Co-Founder/ECD: Aaron Duffy
Business Director: Ashley McGee
Creative Director/Copywriter: Jonathan Emmerling
Creative Development: Edward Choi and Chloe Corner

Production Company: 1stAveMachine
Director: Marc Reisbig
EP/Partner: Sam Penfield
EP: Melinda Nugent
EP: Garrett Braren
Producer: Leanne Amos
Head of Production: Lisanne McDonald
Associate Producer: Christina Jang
VFX Director: John Loughlin
Editor: Jonathan Vitagliano
Compositor: Chris Russo
Colorist: Seth Ricart/Ricart and Co.

Music/SFX
Music Composer and Supervisor: Amit Trivedi

Animation/Post-Production/Online: Stoopid Buddy Stoodios
Executive Producer: John Harvatine IV
Executive Producer: Eric Towner
Executive Producer: Matt Senreich
Executive Producer: Seth Green
Supervising Producer: Janet Dimon
Producer: David Brooks
Line Producer: Barb Cimity
Production Manager: Mario De Jesus
Director of Photography: Helder Sun
Animation Director: Harry Chaskin
Animator: Matt Manning
Animator: Alfonso Estrada
Director of Character Fabrication: Tennessee Norton
Character Fabricator: Tommy Keiser
Editor: Jenny McKibben
VFX Lead: Jack Hamilton

Did Jaguar’s high-wire stunt above the River Thames in London make a big splash? You’ll have to watch and find out.

Suspended about 60 meters above the murky depths at Canary Wharf, Jim Dowdall, a veteran Hollywood stunt coordinator, attempted to drive the new Jag XF sedan roughly 787 meters across a pair of tiny carbon-fiber cables, each about the width of a human thumb.

The car was fitted with specially grooved wheels and a safety “keel” on its undercarriage for Tuesday’s crossing, which was, naturally, broadcast live online. According to Jaguar, the stunt was designed to promote the car’s lighter, mainly aluminum frame. It aimed to set a record for the world’s longest high-wire drive.

So, did the Volvo Trucks-style stunt make a big splash in terms of generating excitement for the British automaker?

The answer there is a resounding … sort of. I guess. The escapade certainly generated more media attention than your typical new-car launch. Still, the 15-minute YouTube chronicle has tallied just over 70,000 views on Jaguar’s main YouTube page—and 16,000 more on Jaguar USA. Those stats aren’t exactly meager, but still underwhelming.

The enterprise is intriguing in a WTF? sort of way, but there’s an odd, unappealing coldness here, and the dreary urban backdrop and lack of spectators are a big part of the problem. It’s as if Dowdall performed his high-wire act for the silent steel towers of London’s financial district. Images of the white Jag suspended above the grey water are almost poetic in a bleak, Ballardian way. They convey a sad sense of loneliness and modernity, testimonies to the triumph of the car, skyscraper and all-seeing media eye.

Speaking of the media, video host Gabby Logan works hard to generate a sense of excitement, but her rah-rah “reporting” comes off sounding insincere. Everything feels a tad forced, unfocused and under-explained. Beyond publicity, what the point, exactly? Even Dowdall seems nonplussed and almost dismissive of the event.

“I’ve been very lucky to be able to drive cars in some very silly situations,” says the veteran driver, who has performed stunts in Bond, Bourne and Indiana Jones films. “That’s probably one of the silliest.”

In life, as in advertising, the best idea usually wins.

That simple insight informs McCann’s campaign for the 2015 Clio Awards, featuring pairs of famous foes—Nelson Mandela and Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid; Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner; Al Capone and J. Edgar Hoover; and angel and devil.

“It’s just this simple idea that, throughout history, the best ideas always go right to the top,” says Noel Cottrell, chief creative officer at Fitzgerald & Co. (part of the McCann group), who helmed the campaign, over on the Clio site. “There are very few times when bad ideas have trumped. If you think about fashion, or politics, or life generally, the best ideas win. We think it’s a great expression of that.”

The campaign is alternately goofy and serious. Cottrell—who is from South Africa, and feels a strong connection to the Mandela/Verwoerd ad—says that flexibility is a strength.

“One image could be Nelson Mandela and Hendrik Verwoerd, another could be Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, and still the best idea wins,” he says. “I love that the campaign can stretch like that, from being sort of flip and funny to serious and controversial. I’m hoping we can carry on doing this.”

More images below.

(Note: Clio and Adweek are both owned by affiliates of Guggenheim Partners.)

CREDITS
Agency – Fitzco/McCann
Noel Cottrell – Chief Creative Officer
Andrew Whitehouse – Creative Director/Art Director
Ryan Boblett – Group Creative Director/Art Director
Brad Harvey – Group Creative Director/Copywriter
Eric Monnet – Network Creative Manager
Cris Tally – Director, Project Management
Siera Williams – Assistant Account Manager
Deb Archambault – Senior Integrated Producer
Kimberly Kress – SVP, Director of Talent Partnerships
Gordon Corte – Talent Manager

Cats aren’t just great alarm clocks. They’re also excellent sleeping masks.

Two gag infomercials for the Animal Foundation animal shelter in Las Vegas (created by agency R&R Partners) hawk exciting new multi-purpose products for your home—”Pet Cat” and “Pet Dog.”

Dogs are surprisingly efficient vacuum cleaners and capable concierges. What else can they do? “The list goes on and on,” the voiceover assures you—and you should pause it while it’s scrolling by, because most of the options are great (even if maybe one too many is about warming some body part … as accurate as that may be).

The writing is sharp and funny, the acting perfectly overdone, and the voiceover as cheesy as possible—dead-on parody. Each pet even comes with a free accessory—for the dog, a leash, aka an instant gym attachment, and for the cat, a paper bag (it’s better than having a TV).

So hurry up and don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity. Litter box and Nature’s Miracle not included.

CREDITS
Client: The Animal Foundation (Las Vegas)
Agency: R&R Partners
Executive Creative Director: Arnie DiGeorge
Creative Director:  Ron Lopez
Copywriter: Chrissy Deem
Copywriter: Mary Money
Art Director: Rachel Hogan
Senior Brand Manager: Sarah Catletti
Brand Manager: Amber Allen
Agency Producer: Sherpa Pictures
Business Affairs: Pam Petrescu

Innovative products deserve advertising that itself is innovative—embodying the promise of what’s for sale in the way it’s being sold. This Audi campaign from German agency thjnk does a nice job of that.

The Audi A7 Sportback h-tron uses a fuel cell coupled with a hybrid battery and additional electric motor in the rear. Notably, nothing but water vapor comes out of the exhaust. And so, Audi created billboards that similarly leave nothing behind.

It’s clever and intriguingly produced, though it’s not quite clear how the effect in achieved. In any case, it’s perhaps most reminiscent of 2012’s “Invisible Car” campaign for Mercedes, which also promoted zero-emission fuel-cell technology—by draping the car with an LED “costume” that made it look invisible.

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Stripping away someone’s name goes a long toward dehumanizing that person. UN Women and Impact BBDO Dubai poignantly drive home that point in a two-minute film that was timed for Mother’s Day in the Middle East on March 21.

“Give Mom Back Her Name” shows on-the-street interviews with various Egyptian men. Keeping with local custom, they refuse to speak their mothers’ names in public. (For men in Egypt and many other countries in the Middle East, there is a peculiar taboo of not disclosing one’s mother’s name in public, lest it become a subject of shame and ridicule.)

A young guy leaning out of a car window explains, “We feel it could bring us ridicule and embarrassment.” An older man adds, “If someone knew our mother’s name, we used to sob when we were kids.” For me, the most unsettling reaction comes from a youngish dude in a blue shirt who can’t stop giggling. It’s as if he’s struggling to process the request, and awkward laughter is the only response he can muster because the notion of naming his mother in public has, at least temporarily, short-circuited his brain.

Over time, we’re told, many women have their names largely forgotten, and they are referred to as the mothers of their eldest sons. Ultimately, the film asks viewers to change their social-media profile icons to their mother’s names and spread word of the initiative using the hashtag #MyMothersNameIs.

“The right to one’s own name not being associated with shame or embarrassment is one step closer to equality,” says Fadi Yaish, regional executive creative director at Impact BBDO. “It is a basic human right.”

The film—by the same group behind 2013’s lauded Google autocomplete campaign—contains an especially sweet and uplifting scene near the end. Spoiler: The blue-shirted guy, so vexed at the outset, stands in a busy street beside his mom and speaks her name. It’s a moving, redemptive moment that reminds viewers that change and progress are always possible.

According to Yaish, in its first 48 hours online, the film received 1.5 million views on Facebook and YouTube, and over 4 million impressions on Facebook alone. The most “shocking outcome,” he says, is that women in the region felt empowered and “spoke out across all media and on social platforms saying their names.”

AdFreak: What’s the one big takeaway from this film?
Fadi Yaish: Social taboos are man made, and they can be broken by starting a conversation.

Was it tough to make? Did anyone become offended and storm off?
Some people were angry, thought we are making fun of them and refused to participate. Some people did not know what to say. Some people spoke up. As you can see in the film, some people, especially the young ones, just simply were shocked we asked them this question. It was like moment of truth. They were thinking, “I should be able to say my mother’s name! Why can’t I?” It made them question and doubt.

Who is the target audience? Do you think it will get through to them?
The core target is Egypt, which will spill to countries that have the same problem—Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan. [The message] got through already, and to everyone. It is growing bigger every second.

Any big surprises?
The response of men in general was kind of expected. Because of the “moment of truth,” the real shame would be on us men—the fact that we took away the name of the person that gave us our names and gave us our lives. The surprise was women speaking up, and refusing to accept the current situation. Google the hashtag, and you will see women saying their names. This is amazing.

CREDITS
Client: UN Women
Agency: Impact BBDO Dubai
Executive Creative Director/Editor: Fadi Yaish
Art Director: Maged Nassar, Tameem Younes
Copywriter: Aunindo Sen
Graphic designer: Mohamed Said
Typographer: Mahmmad Al Mahdy
Production House: Bigfoot
Director: Maged Nassar, Tameem Younes
DOP: Ahmed Tahoun
Post Production: Lizard

Starbucks is encouraging its baristas to write the words “Race Together” on cups to get customers talking about racial issue. The idea started internally when about 2,000 Starbuckians attended a forum to talk about Ferguson, Mo., but surely no one foresaw the shit storm that would erupt when it went public.

This isn’t the coffee company’s first time at the social cause rodeo. It’s taken on guns and gay rights gamely, with applause from its largely liberal audience. But somehow, the clumsy nature of reducing a serious, impossibly complex national conversation to a hashtag on a coffee cup has united Twitter users of all races in roundly denouncing the attempt.

Not sure what @Starbucks was thinking. I don’t have time to explain 400 years of oppression to you & still make my train. #RaceTogether

— April (@ReignOfApril) March 17, 2015

Being a barista is hard enough. Having to talk #RaceTogether with a woman in Lululemon pants while pouring pumpkin spice is just cruel.

— Ijeoma Oluo (@IjeomaOluo) March 17, 2015

if only Selma had just put in a starbucks

— Jessica Misener (@jessmisener) March 17, 2015

Apparently, in the @Starbucks world, this is what #RaceTogether looks like. http://t.co/ciaEl3yu2l pic.twitter.com/SIox0kmGnz

— Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) March 17, 2015

Entrepreneur points out that the campaign puts an unfair burden on the baristas. And let’s be frank, they maybe aren’t being given the resources and information to hold an informed, nuanced discussion of the topic when a customer walks in and asks their feels on the subject of cultural appropriation, and by the way, do they find it awkward that ordering a black coffee or a flat white espresso will now have an extra layer of uncomfortable meaning?

More than a few people are suggesting Starbucks needs to first have a serious conversation with itself about race—more diversity in leadership, a serious look at where they are and aren’t putting their stores (interestingly, there are no Starbucks actually in the town of Ferguson), and of course, fair trade for all their coffee growers.

It’s worth a little discomfort. Here’s the what and the why of #RaceTogether. http://t.co/jO56LvKeO8

— Starbucks Coffee (@Starbucks) March 17, 2015

Starbucks, for its part, claimed that broaching the topic is worth a little discomfort. But that was right before vp of communications Corey duBrowa deleted his Twitter account because attacks were distracting from a “respectful conversation.”

The important thing is that Starbucks has finally united Americans in a conversation about how much they don’t want to have a conversation about race—at least, not before they have their coffee.

Your cranky straight-talking grandmother might not think much of diesel engines, but Volkswagen would like her—and you—to reconsider.

“Old Wives Tales,” a new campaign from Deutsch LA for the automaker’s Passat TDI, features the Golden Sisters, who rose to fame with their salty commentary on Kim Kardashian’s sex tape back in 2012. Now, the trio are riding around in a VW, sounding off on diesel cars—and getting it wrong.

They weigh in on rappers (dismissively, of course) and play “Who’s on First” with the question of whether the car is even running—because aren’t diesel engines supposed to be loud? While looking for a gas station, they start obsessing over food—Italian, in this case (the real-life siblings were all born Conticchio, in the Bronx)—though their heritage could, in many moments, just as easily be another variety of old, white and loud.

In other words, the four spots are all set pieces that showcase a certain type of gleefully abrasive charm—a shtick that will appeal best to the demographic that knows and loves the caricature. It’s a nice vehicle for the message. People who bear these misconceptions are likely more concerned with volume than accuracy, so don’t be like them (even if you think they’re funny).

The best moment by far is a close-up of what might be the world’s ugliest dog (a cameo that deserves credit for extra cutting against the grain of everyone everywhere putting adorable puppies in their ads). And in a discovery on which more mercenary brands should capitalize, it turns out even marketing hashtags like #tunameltsmyheart are less obnoxious when yelled by an old woman—probably because you don’t have a choice but to forgive them for being cheesy.

CREDITS
Client: Volkswagen
Agency: Deutsch LA
Chief Creative Officer: Pete Favat
Chief Digital Officer: Winston Binch
Executive Creative Director: Todd Riddle
Digital Executive Creative Director: Jerome Austria
Group Creative Director: Heath Pochucha
Group Creative Director: Tom Pettus
Art Director: Alice Blastorah
Copywriters: Shiran Teitelbaum, William Sawyer
Director of Integrated Production: Vic Palumbo
Executive Integrated Producer: Erik Press
Integrated Producer: Win Bates
Group Account Director: Tom Else
Group Account Director: Monica Jungbeck
Account Director: Alex Gross
Account Supervisor: Aleks Rzeznik
Account Executive: Ashley Broughman
Director of Product Information: Jason Clark
Product Information Supervisor: Eddie Chae
Chief Strategy Officer: Colin Drummond
Senior Digital Strategist: Brendon Volpe
Group Planning Director: Susie Lyons
Director of Integrated Business Affairs: Abilino Guillermo
Group Director Integrated Business Affairs: Gabriela Farias
Business Affairs Manager: Jade McAdams
Director or Broadcast Traffic: Carie Bonillo
Broadcast Traffic Manager: Courtney Tylka
Production Company: LMNO Productions
Director: Eric Schotz
Executive Producer: Ed Horwitz
Editorial House: Union Editorial
Editor: Paul Plew
Assistant Editor: Otto Mertins
President: Michael Raimondi
Senior Producer: Rob McCool
Post-Facility: Resolution
Sound Studio: Resolution
Producer: Logan Aires
Mixer: Milos Zivkovic

There’s lots of sexy smartphone functionality out there, but not too much that’s actually sexual. But now, Durex claims to have discovered phone technology that helps couples get closer in the bedroom.

Check out the video below, which has notched an impressive 21 million views in just five days. Seems people are craving tech-enhanced sex—or perhaps its opposite.

The campaign also supports this event happening later this month.